CookSmart (9th Issue) Page9

EatSmart Restaurants Snaps

Tasting of EatSmart Dishes

1. Boiled Sea Snails

   Locally produced sea snails are poached with water and served plain. This cooking method retains the taste and freshness of snail meat.

2. Cold Braised Abalone with Salad

   Small size abalones are soaked in ice water before putting in boiled water. Then they are cooked with chicken broth for eight hours. The flavourful abalone meat has a nice al dente texture, while the salad, dressed with a sauce made of vinegar and mustard sauce, is especially savoury.

3. Vegetables and Sweet Corn in Vegetable Soup

   Bean curd sheets, corn kernels, carrots and Chinese white cabbages are cooked with vegetable soup. Chinese white cabbage blends perfectly well with bean curd sheets.

4. Braised Assorted Vegetables in Soup

   Flowering Chinese cabbage, Shanghai cabbage and broccoli are braised in vegetable soup cooked with assorted mushrooms and red dates, all of which make a tasty and healthy dish.

Yet people of Hong Kong, Jacky claimed, really know how to enjoy seafood. It is especially true for the fishermen, who are fond of smaller yet tasty fishes such as sardines, yellow croakers and cardinalfish. They also love to eat “salted fresh fishes”. By marinating fresh fishes with little amount of salt for half a day before steaming, the texture becomes more tender.

Visitors have different food preference

Jacky observes that visitors from different countries have various food preferences. Korean and Japanese customers, for instance, are fond of mantis prawns. Taiwanese guests favour crabs, while the Mainlanders prefer steamed fishes. Stir-fried fish fillets and pan-fried fishes are the favourites of the Westerners. Vietnamese have a liking for spicy seafood. Nevertheless, healthy eating is indeed the trend, and customers tend to order more veggie dishes and even request for no oil, salt and sauce in their dishes.

Let the customers have healthy food choices

To provide healthy choices for customers, Rainbow Seafood Restaurant has long started using corn oil and canola oil. They have refrained from adding a shot of cooked oil on top of dishes, which is usually practised by many local chefs. “Like an army,” he said, “we are a well disciplined team. We will discard substandard dishes cooked with excessive oil or salt.”